The statement made by a so-called detective, Stout, in a publication issued by him, that Rube Burrow was on the train at the time of Jackson’s capture, dressed in female apparel, and escaped, like many other accounts in that volume, is a silly fabrication. Joe Jackson was brought to Memphis and quartered in the building of the Southern Express Company, on North Court Street, for several days. He was confronted with the evidence of his crimes by the express officials. The chain of testimony which had been riveted about him, from the day he joined Burrow, was unfolded to him link by link, and he was told to choose between a trial for the Duck Hill affair, in which the penalty was hanging, for the murder of Chester Hughes, and that of Buckatunna, where the penalty was imprisonment for life. For two days Joe held out, still denying the crimes charged, but, finally, on the morning of the third day, when he found he was to be taken to Duck Hill, he agreed to give a full statement of his participation in the Duck Hill and Buckatunna robberies, and to narrate the story of the movements of Rube Burrow and himself from the day they first met until they separated in December, 1889. The sole stipulation was that his confession should not be made public while Rube Burrow lived, a promise which was faithfully kept by the express officials, satisfied, as they were, that the knowledge they possessed would soon enable them to capture Rube Burrow, then the last member of his band at liberty. CHAPTER XVII. RUBE SMITH’S PLOT TO ESCAPE FROM PRISON--HIS PLANS DISCOVERED--THE TELL-TALE LETTERS. Rube Smith, having been sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment, was, therefore, a convict in the state-prison when Brock, _alias_ Jackson, was carried there on July 21st for safe keeping. Smith was at work in the prison shop when Brock was taken within the gates and given a seat in the prison-yard, about thirty feet from the shop window. An official of the Southern Express Company, with Detective Jackson, approached Rube and said: “Well, Rube, we have Joe Jackson.” Smith had not heard of the capture, and was evidently somewhat embarrassed at the announcement. Quickly rallying, however, he answered: “I don’t know Joe Jackson--never saw him in my life.” “Come with me to the window,” said the official. Rube walked over to the window, and Joe being pointed out, Rube said: “No, sir, I never saw that man before.” On being told he was Rube Burrow’s partner, Smith repeated what he was often wont to say: “I have not seen Rube Burrow since I was a small boy,” and again he denied his guilt.